Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Christian Restaurant Rejected at Univ. Nebraska

Administrators at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) have decided that students need a lesson in tolerance after the student government leaders sided with the minority Queer Straight Alliance (the student homosexualist club) against a new Chick-fil-A — the top restaurant choice of the overall student body.

“When we learned more about Chick-fil-A and its corporate values and discriminatory policies, and after hearing these concerns raised by a section of our student body, we concluded that these corporate values are not aligned with our values as a student body, and it is not in the best interested of our UNK community to pursue Chick-fil-A right now.”-- Evan Calhoun, UNK student government president

University of Nebraska at Kearney administration announced Monday that it is moving forward with student-identified restaurants and beginning preliminary negotiations with those interested in locating in the Nebraskan Student Union.

Those moving forward will be Chick-fil-A, Raising Canes, Panda Express, IHOP, A&W, Sbarro, and Johnny Rockets. These restaurants are allowed in the Union under the university’s agreement with its food services contractor Chartwells, and were preferred by students.

After two Student Government opinion surveys, administration will now take those top poll preferences to determine interest and financial viability for the student-preferred restaurants.

“There has been a lot of dialogue and discussion about restaurants and options over the past weeks, along with a lot of emotional debate, much of which is outside the realm of the intent of the polling,” said Kelly Bartling, UNK assistant vice chancellor for communication and community relations.

In the [initial] survey, 722 of 1,222 respondents chose Chick-fil-A as their top restaurant choice over A&W, Johnny Rockets, Panda Express, Sbarro and IHOP.

After [Evan] Calhoun was contacted [by the Queer Straight Alliance] with student concerns, a second survey was sent out replacing Chick-fil-A with Raising Cane’s.

Raising Cane’s received 670 of 985 votes in the second survey.

Controversy over the handling of the student polling has prompted the university to schedule a public forum at 6 p.m. Thursday in the union.

“I see that as an important opportunity for students to learn, listen to one another,” [Kelly] Bartling said. “I think that some people who haven’t had an opportunity to talk to somebody and listen to a different point of view from theirs might be moved by it — some of the feelings that people have about inclusiveness, about their faith beliefs. The forum itself is an example of the important learning that comes with conflicts like these on university campuses.”

The forum will be moderated by Gilbert Hinga, UNK dean of student affairs, and points will be summarized and passed on to UNK administration.

A student government resolution set to bring Chick-fil-A to the University of Nebraska Kearney (UNK) was reversed because students complained about the CEO’s support of traditional marriage.

In a survey administered in January, a majority of the student body elected to bring a Chick-fil-A to campus over other fast food options. Some students, however, disagreed with the decision because of Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy’s defense of traditional marriage. Cathy’s company took a hit back in 2012 after he stood up for traditional marriage in an interview on The Ken Coleman Show.

“I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about,” Cathy said.

According to The Daily Wire, many UNK students are outraged with Calhoun’s decision to reverse the vote. . . .

In response to the students’ complaints, the UNK student president Evan Calhoun announced via email that his student government would not be bringing Chick-Fil-A to campus . . .

Trevor Wiegert, a third-year UNK student and campus chancellor’s ambassador, said he was initially thrilled that the student government was considering bringing Chick-Fil-A to the campus union. After the decision was reversed, Weigert, backed by classmates and faculty members, urged the student government to reconsider Chick-Fil-A. In a letter he wrote to the UNK student senate, Wiegert wrote:

I think it is ridiculous and appalling that this is a situation we are faced with as a campus and student body, due to the preconceived notions of a very small minority. This is a country that was built and has thrived on the notion of free speech. Taking a man’s opinion on his belief in the traditional family and construing it to supposedly encompass his entire company’s corporate values and discriminatory policies in order to feel “safe” or like you’re not being “persecuted” is simply asinine.

Wiegert’s sentiments were echoed by other students who were also disappointed by the student government’s decision. . . .